


(Un)beatable

by RubyDragonQueen



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:40:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28109457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyDragonQueen/pseuds/RubyDragonQueen
Summary: Before the champion cup, Leon contemplates some things.
Relationships: Dande | Leon & his Charizard
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	(Un)beatable

**Author's Note:**

> Y'know, I bet the whole 'unbeatable champion' thing really weighs on Leon sometimes.

Leon was going to be late to the challenger match. Again.

Nobody would really blame him for it- His poor sense of direction was infamous after all. Nobody would ever know if it was on purpose, if he chose to take a few minutes to just sit and rest here.

(Okay, so maybe he was actually lost. If he really couldn’t figure it out he could always just have Charizard fly up to try and figure out the way back though.)

He’d just been wandering around as he always did, and before he knew it he’d checked his watch and it was ten minutes till the challenger was set to arrive and he was on a random outcrop overlooking the town with no idea what path he’d taken to get here.

He sat down on a nearby boulder.

Arceus, he was tired.

He was the unbeatable champion. He had to be perfect. Had to win every match. Had to dominate every competition. Had to be utterly flawless in every battle.

This new contender had blasted through every gym leader. They were unbeaten themselves. Everyone was excited, to see an unstoppable force meet an immovable object. They couldn’t wait to see one of the duo’s winning streaks inevitably broken.

Leon wasn’t excited at all. He was just scared.

Why? Why did he feel like this? If he lost here, it wouldn’t really matter, would it? Sure he wouldn’t be the unbeatable champion anymore, but he’d still be legendary. Still be legendary for beating the league at such a young age. Still be Raihan’s rival. Hop would still look up to him. Nobody he cared about would think any less of him.

...He’d just think less of himself.

Charizard burst out of his pokeball, laying his head on Leon’s lap with a soft purr.

He didn’t want to do this, didn’t want to go down to the stadium and battle, didn’t want these expectations hanging over his head, didn’t want to be so scared of losing, of losing his streak, his title. He was Leon, the unbeatable champion, the unstoppable, the legend.

Without that, what was he? (Loved, loved by his family, his brother, his friends, his colleagues, countless fans across Galar, loved by his pokemon, nobody would stop loving him, caring about him, because he lost a single match.)

(Except for himself.)

He ran his hand across Charizard’s head, scratching between the horns precisely the way Charizard had always loved, since he was small enough for Leon to hold him with one hand.

Leon was sure if he talked to anyone about it, they’d be ready to reassure him. Hop would shower him in hugs and tell him he’d love and look up to him no matter what, Mom would tell him it didn’t matter how many times he lost, even if he never won a single battle he was still amazing and kind and deserved the very best. Raihan would joke about not being satisfied until he beat Leon, until they were on even footing, and that even then he still had loads to learn from having Leon as a rival.

But none of them knew Leon felt like this, that he felt so painfully unsure of himself, that his chest ached every time he thought he might lose, any time he thought his streak might be in the slightest danger, that he felt like he’d be worthless if he wasn’t perfect. He didn’t know how to tell them, how to even begin to explain.

They all knew him as the unbeatable champion, who never feared any opponent, who was always confident in himself, always cheerful even at the worst of times, who could always brush off his own flaws with cheer and laughter. How could he even begin to tell anyone that it wasn’t really true, not always? That it was a facade more and more often these days?

He didn’t really understand what he felt, why he felt it, how could he explain it well enough for anyone else to understand?

Charizard lifted his head to look at Leon, drops of water rolling off of his scales.

Oh.

Leon was crying.

Charizard squirmed forward, wrestling his entire body onto Leon’s lap, pressing his snout into Leon’s collar, claws wrapped around Leon’s back.

And Leon just let himself cry. 

Charizard purred and chirped and patted him soothingly, and Leon couldn’t stop sobbing.

As the tears eventually died down, Charizard pulled back, gently pressing his snout against Leon’s nose in a way he’d seen charmeleons do to their siblings time and time again. Leon chuckled, gently nudging Charizard off of his lap.

Leon stood up, wiped the tears off of his face, and plastered on a smile.

“Charizard, which way back to town?”

Charizard leapt into the air, scanning the paths before pointing Leon back down a route that, in retrospect, was definitely the way he came.

Charizard swooped back down to land next to Leon, earning a scratch on the chin as Leon set off.

Win or lose, he had a champion cup to go fight.

**Author's Note:**

> This is like, half character study, half vent fic, and I wrote it in half an hour. So. Uh. If it's garbage that's why.


End file.
